Gravity dumping construction



1,641,369 Sept 1927' E. R. BARRETT GRAVI TY DUMPING CONSTRUCTION Filed June 4, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 1,

' Invenfov Edward'RBcwrefi;

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E. R. BARRETT GRAVITY DUMPING CONS TRUC'I'I ON Filed June 4, 1923 3' Sheets-Sheet 2 Inuenfor MM Sept. 6, 1927. 1,641,369

E. R. BARRETT GRAVITY DUMPING CONSTRUCTION Filed June 4, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 0 O l0t 93 Z )24 4 '26 5 M o a i OMB luveufor 1/ 9/2 EdumvdRBm'vefi QQ/fM/ Patented Sept. 6, 1927 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.EDWARD R. BARRETT, DETROI'JL. MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR T0 WOOD HYDRAULIC I-IOIST AND BODY COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHI- em. I

GRAVITY DUMPING CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed June 4, 1923. Serial No. 643,190.

This invention relates to a gravity dumping construction primarily designed for use with the smaller forms of motor trucks, though of course a plicable to other types of vehicles of relative y small size. It is particularly useful when applied to Ford trucks. The gravity dumping body is ordinarily mounted to turn on a pivot or pivots located approximately midway between the ends of the dumping body so that the weight at each side of the pivots is substantially equal, making it comparatively easy to turn the body about such pivots to dump the contents thereof at the rear end of the body and back of the truck. Theoperation of dumping is easy but the return of the body to its original position is not as easily accomplished due to the angular position of the body after the load has been dumped and the change in position of the center of gravity of the body,-making it very hard to start the return of the body to initial horizontal position.

The present invention is directed, primarily, to a novel mounting for the body wherein there is an automatic change in the pivotal axes about which the body turnsin dumping, making it not only easy tostart the tilting of the body for the dumping of the load, but taking advantage of the movement of the load as the body is tilted to aid in further tilting the body after a change in the pivotal axis is made to further move the body so that. the entire load will be dumped, the bodythen being left for return, at the beginning of its return movement, about a pivotal axis back of the first pivotal axis, little efi'ort being required to start the body back to its original position. This is necessary as the only power used in tilting and returning the body is that applied manually.

It is an object and purpose of the invention to provide a simple, economical and practical and durable construction for effectively attaining the above described ends as well as many others not at this time specifically stated but which will appear fully and in detail as understanding of the invention is had from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a truck equipped with a dumping body and having my invention applied thereto.

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged perspective views of the two major elements or parts of the mounting for the dumping body, the first of which is applied to the body and the second to the chassis of. the truck Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section through the body, the mounting thereof at one side being shown in side elevation and with thebody in horizontal position.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to that shown in Fig. 4, the body being tilted to its first stage of dumping.

Fig. 6 is a like view, the body being tilted to its final dumping stage. I

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the rear part of the truck with the body removed.

Fig. 8 .is a fragmentary side elevation illustrating a slight modification in the construction of the elements forming the mounting for the body.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawings.

The truck is of the usual conventional construction, including. a cab 1 and chassis side frame members 2 spaced apart and at their rear end-s being connected by a cross member 3 of channel formation, the ends of which extend a distance beyond the sides of the members 2. A short distance back of the cab a second cross member 4 of channel form, preferably, is located and permanently secured by bolts or like fastenings to the members 2. Bars 5 of angle iron form are disposed between the cross members 3 and 4, being permanently connected with the member 4 at its ends and also to the member 3, spacing blocks 6 being located between the rear ends of the bars 5 and the ends of the member 3 to elevate the rear portions of the bars 5 and position them horizontal and in parallelism with the chassis sides 2. I

At the rear end and on the upper side of each bar 5 a support is secured permanently in any suitable manner. Thereare two of these supports and each includes a base 7 and an upwardly extending web 8 havingstrengthening flanges 9 entlrely around the same except at the upper corners which are formed into sleeves 10 in which bearing and pivot pins 11 and 12 are fixed and which project a shortdistance'outwardly beyond the outer ends of the sleeves. It will be noted that the web 8 is a trapezium in outline and that the pin 12 is set ahead of and at\a higher elevation than tlfia pin 11.

Longitudinal sills 13 depend from the bottom of the dumping body 14 and in addition there are a number of cross bars or sills 13 to strengthen and reinforce the bottom of the body which is made of sheet metal. The usual pivotally mounted end gate 15 is connected at the rear end of the body. In practice this gate is held closed by a suitable latch which, as it forms no part of the present invention, is not shown and described.

On the inner side-of each of the longitudinal sills 13 a member 16 to mount on and cooperate with the pivot pins 11 12 of each support is permanently secured. 'Said mem ber 16 comprises a single integral casting in which two curved slots 17 and 18 areformed, slot 17 being back of slot 18 and considerably longer. To afford greater bearing surface for the pins 11 and 12 and to strengthen and reinforce themembers 16 said slots are surrounded by inwardly extending continuous flanges 19 and 20, respectively, and the member 16 is further strengthened by a web or flange 21 lying between the flanges and an additional angularly shaped flange. 22, as shown in Fig. 2, the same conforming to the angle iron cross member 13 located across and at the rear ends of the members 16 as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. The pins 11 enter the slots 17 and pins 12' the slots 18.

In Fi 8 a slightly modified form of structure is's own, the support 8 being like that previously described by the pin 12 taking the place of the in 12 being somewhat elongated horizontal y and having a horizontal upper side as a bearing surface, against which the up er end of the slot 18 bears when the body is in horizontal position, which position it occupies when the body is loaded and carried over the road. The slot 18 is enlarged to correspond to the pin'12, and the member 16 similar to member 16 heretofore described, is somewhat modified the various reinforcing flanges 20, 21 an 22 being eliminatedi The structures are equivalent in every way, the larger pin 12 merely furnishing a larger bearing surface to withstand the pressures to which it will be subjected in service.

When the body 14 is in horizontal position the front cross sill 13 comes against the upper end of a bracket 24 which is attached to and extends upwardly from the member 4 at a point substantially midway between its ends. A latch 23 in the form of a flat plate is attached to the depending flange of the front cross sill 13 and near its lower end has an opening to receive the end of a rod 25 ed and turned upwardly at right angles to make an operating handle 26 which may be reached through the back of the cab by the driver. A spring 27 is located around the rod 25 between the front side of the bracket and a pin passing through the rod, the tendency of the spring being to move the rod 25 to the rear. A member 28 having a cam edge 29 is located at the front of the bracket 24 in position such that therod 26 bearsthereagainst. On turning the rod the spring 27 is compressed and the part 25 withdrawn so as to free the latch 23 therefrom, permitting the body to tilt and dump. its load. This latching mechanism is of value in insuring that the body shall stay in horizontal position and not tilt to dumping position during the travel of the vehicle on the road. 1 Q

When the place of dumping is reached, the rod 26 is grasped and moved to one side to free the body for tilting. It will benoted that when the body is in horizontal position,

as shown in Fig. 4, the pins 12 are at the upperends of the slots 18 and the pins 11 at the lower ends of the slots 17. The center of gravity of the load and body is ap roxi mately directly over the pins 12. Accor ingly the body may be tilted with little eflort if, in fact, it does nottilt of its own accord as soon as the front latch is released. I In the first stage of movement the body moves from the osition Fig. 5, the pins 11 traversing the slots 17 and changing position from the lower to the upper ends of the slots. When this position is reached, or with the body at approximately thirty degrees to the horizontal, any further tilting must be about the rear pins 11. The center of gravity of the body and loadgas moved backward on the arc of a circle a ut the axis of pins 12 so that it is now substantially directly over the pins 11, and in addition there is a tendency of the load to move down the incline made by the tilting bod The tilting of the body will continue, accordingly until the position shown in Fig. 6 is reached, pins 12 moving toa position at the lower ends of the slots 18 where they serve as stops against any further tilting movement, the body being approximately at an angle of forty five degrees to the horizontal. In this positlon the load will readily dump, the end gate swinging outwardly to permit the dumping, as in'Fig. 6.

After the load is dumped, the first stage of the return of the body to horizontal position is about the pivots 11 and it requires but little manual effort to start the body to return due to the rearward position of the pivots; and after the position shown in Fig. 5 is reached on the return, further'return moveshown in Fig. 4 to that shown in ten ment is about pivots 12, the effort required being still small owing to the forward movement of the center of gravity of the body in moving from its extreme tilted position to that shown in Fig. 5. When the final position is reached the latch acts automatically to hold the body in horizontal position,

From the foregoing, it is apparent that I have devised a simple, strong and durable and relatively inexpensive structure which is very easily operated. The underlying and salient feature of the present construction is its ease of operation where with a fixed pivot about which the body has to turn, ease of operation is impossible. Another very meritorious feature of the invention inherent in the structure is that the final tilting move-' ment of the body in dumping is slowed up and checked due to the change of pivots about which it turns and there is no abrupt stopping whenthe pins 12 or 12 come against the bottoms of the slots 18 or 18*, and no jar or strain on the parts. This construct-ionof dumping body has been built and tested and has proved its merits in every respect. a

I claim:

1. In combination with a vehicle, a pair of spaced apart pivot pins located at each side of the frame of the vehicle near the rear thereof, a tilting body located above said pivot pins, a supporting bracket attached to each side of said body, each bracket having two arcuate slots to receive said pins and to support said body for tilting movement from a horizontal to an inclined posi tion, the beginning of the tilting movement being about the forward pivots and the end thereof about the rear pivots, the length of the forward arcuate slots being such as to limit the tilting movement of the body by engagement of their ends with the forward pivot pins.

2. In combination with a vehicle, a pair of spaced apart pivot pins located at each side of the frame of the vehicle near the rear thereof, the pins of each pair being ar-' ranged, one forward of the other, and the forward pin being located above the rear pin, a tilting body located above said pivot pins, a supporting bracket attached to each side of said body, each bracket having two arcuate slots to receive said pins and to su port said .body for tilting movement from a iorizontal to an inclined position, the beginning of the tilting movement being about'the forward pivots and the end thereof about the rear pivots, the length of the forward arcuate slots being such as to limit the tilting movement of the body by engagement of their ends with the forward pivot pins.

3. In combination with a vehicle, a support mounted at each side .of the vehicle frame near the rear thereof and extending upwardly from the frame, two spaced apart laterally extending pivot pins near the upper end of each support, a tilting body located above said sup orts, a supporting bracket attached to eac side of said body, each bracket having two arouate slots to receive said pins and to support said body for tilting movement from a horizontal to an inclined position, the beginning of the tilting movement being about the forward pivots and the end thereof about the rear. pivots, the length of the forward arcuate slots being such as to limit the tilting movement of the body by engagement of their ends with the forward pivot pins.

p In testimony whereof I "aflix my signature.

EDWARD R. BARRETT.- 

